August Lions quilt

Way back in November 2014 at a Seattle MQG retreat, I started a new quilt with a bundle of Cotton and Steel August (by Sarah Watts) and a new pattern by Aylin-Nilya that I had tested before it's release (see my curved version for a Seattle MQG swap). I thought this Diamonds in Diamonds pattern would be perfect for showing off some of those darling lions and other large scale prints. I started this with no clue as to how big it would become or where it's final home would be.

It is so nice to be able to baste this and get it quilted at #sewtopia! Thank you @pellonprojects and @moderndomestic! #pellonatsewtopia #cottonandsteel #aylinnilyapattern #htwipit

A photo posted by Sew all the things! (@allisonsews) on Nov 7, 2015 at 3:27pm PST

Flash forward to September 2015 and the arrival of my newest nephew. I knew this would be just perfect for him and planned to finish it by Christmas. I had made all of the diamonds almost a year before but was hung up on the sashing since I was doing it differently than the pattern. The math and angles were killing me.... that'll teach me to go out on my own!

I packed this up to work on at Sewtopia Portland in November and finally got the quilt top finished and basted the whole thing (thanks Pellon batting station!). I even had a time slot to quilt this on the midarm and we were totally on track to have this finished by Christmas. But then - breakage. So. Much. Thread. Breakage. The midarm and I were not getting along and he was really ruining my plans. I got just a small portion of the free motion quilting done before my time on the machine was up. Sadness ensued.

Upon returning home from Sewtopia, I kept putting off the rest of the FMQ. I was having some thread issues of my own with dear old Juki. Christmas came and went and my poor little nephew was still without his present from Auntie Alsie. Eventually I mustered up the courage to tackle the rest of this guy and was able to finish it fairly quickly once I stopped trying to use a certain fancy Italian thread that shall not be named. What can I say - I guess Juki just likes cheap and/or poly thread for FMQ!

I do love the quilting I did on this one. To play up the King of the Jungle look, I wanted lots of jungle inspired leaves all over. I made stems coming up from the bottom with a little bit of wild grass to fill in holes where needed and then smaller leaves all over the top two thirds that would look like the leaves in the trees. To make the diamonds a little special, they have a simple elongated figure eight pattern. I used the same off-white threads on both sides so the quilting shows really well on the darker parts of the back.

I didn't get a ton of sewing done today but I was definitely loving how this #fmq was looking on the back of my quilt. Motif from @afewscraps book. #fmqallthethings

A photo posted by Sew all the things! (@allisonsews) on Dec 12, 2015 at 10:59pm PST

I finally finished up the binding in January and was able to get this right in the wash and then delivered to little Weston. I think it's safe to say he likes it and it's definitely big enough that it will be with him for quite a few years. What the hell was I thinking making a quilt this big for a baby?!?

Linking up to #IGquiltfest #finallyfinished. I do actually have some longer WIPS but, well, they're not finished yet. It's also an official finish from my 2016 Q1 Finish Along list. Yay!